The pivotal moment that “saved” The Who’s Roger Daltrey
While music has always played some role in Roger Daltrey‘s life, his first rock ‘n’ roll exposure proved to be a transformative event. Being a frontman was the role Daltrey was born to play, but if it hadn’t been for one performance on television, his life might have veered down a different avenue.
Daltrey’s musical origin story began when he started performing as a choir boy at his local church as a child. At this stage, the musician realised he was blessed with a strong voice, but other interests soon took over, and he stopped singing. At school, Daltrey showed signs of excellence. However, that all changed upon his expulsion in 1957, which coincided with the start of his obsession with rock music.
Back then, rock ‘n’ roll was still a subculture that had yet to break into the mainstream, and it was difficult for a teenager from Acton to seek out. However, Elvis Presley put the genre on the map, and Daltrey was spellbound by what he had witnessed upon first setting his eyes on a news report on television about the American singer.
In an interview broadcast in 1983, Daltrey recalled: “It really came with seeing Elvis Presley for the first time on the TV and in the cinema. Everybody was into Elvis, and everybody who was into Elvis wore draped jackets and were Teddy Boys. And I thought they were fantastic and had so much class.”
Daltrey later touched upon the moment during a talk in Oklahoma in 2009. “The only thing that saved me was I saw Elvis Presley on TV,” he told the crowd. “There was this clip of this guy singing ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ and looking like something from outer space. It was just when my world changed. Something came out of the music, this drive and energy, and I thought, ‘That’s what I’m going to be,'” Daltrey added.
“Pete actually wrote a song called ‘Real Good-Looking Boy,’ and it’s kind of about people who thought they could look like Elvis. And I was one of them, and all my mates thought they could look like Elvis, and of course, none of us did,” he continued.
If it wasn’t for finding Presley and ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ marauding its way into his life, there’s a distinct possibility that Daltrey wouldn’t have become a frontman. Shortly after hearing the track, he started playing the guitar and joined a local band, which served as his apprenticeship before forming The Who.
Although Daltrey didn’t try to replicate Presley in a musical sense, he was captivated by the American’s mythical aura and knew his life was also destined for the stage. Therefore, he’ll always be thankful to Elvis for injecting him with the confidence to fulfil his wildest ambitions.